i4oS AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



finally disappeared. In 1853, another movement was initiated to carry a railway line 

 from Newcastle to Maitland, a Provisional Committee being formed and a capital of 

 100,000 subscribed on the spot. In the course of twelve months, however, this Company 

 also found the work beyond their powers ; and the inevitable result, that far-seeing 

 people had doubtless foreseen so long, came to pass, in the taking over of the affairs 

 of both Companies by the Government of New South Wales, in September and July, 

 1854, respectively. More money and renewed vigour were put into the enterprise under 

 State management, and, on the 26th of September, 1855, five years after the first sod 

 was turned, and nine years after the railway project was mooted, the line from Parra- 

 matta to Sydney was declared open to traffic, and the Government railway system of 

 the mother-colony was at last practically inaugurated. 



But, although the railway system had its inception in New South Wales, it was in 

 Victoria that the first line was opened for actual traffic. The line from Melbourne to 

 Sandridge was not commenced until January, 1853. It was constructed by a private 

 company, and by September of the next year, or about twelve months before the 

 corresponding event in the mother-colony, the line was opened. The first section of 

 the South Australian Railway was from Adelaide to Port Adelaide, and the next was 

 from Adelaide to Gawler, which was opened in October, 1857, the distance being 

 twenty-five miles. In New Zealand, the first line thrown open was at Lyttelton, 

 Canterbury District, on the ist of December, 1863. Queensland followed, on the 3ist of July, 

 1865, with a line from Ipswich to Toowoomba ; Tasmania opened its first section on the igth 

 of August, 1869; and the first sod of the Western Australian Line was turned by Governor 

 Weld on the 22nd of November, 1874. The progress in all the colonies has been in every 

 way wonderful, when the sparseness of the population and their resources are taken into 

 consideration. In New South Wales, after the opening of the first short line, the work 

 of railway construction languished somewhat for at least twenty years, though only three 

 were allowed to pass without at least some progress being made. Those exceptions were 

 the years 1859, 1865, and 1866. When the two decades had passed, only 437 miles were 

 open in the mother-colony ; by 1885 a distance of 1,832^ miles was traversed by the 

 rails ; and at the end of 1890 the total length, of railway line in the colony reached 

 2,182 miles, giving an average of about 61 miles per year. To this, is to be added the 

 private line between Moama and Deniliquin, connecting with the traffic from Echuca. 

 The cost of the Government lines up to 1890 amounted to ^30,555,123. The routes 

 are known as the Great Northern, Great Western and Great Southern Lines. The first, 

 which for many years had its termination at Newcastle, has now been connected with 

 Sydney by a junction at Strathfield, and one of the great works is the celebrated bridge 

 over the Hawkesbury River. This line taps the Newcastle coal district, the agricultural 

 valley of the Hunter River, the rich pastoral country of New England, connecting with 

 the line to Brisbane on reaching the Queensland border. The Western Line crosses the 

 Blue Mountains over that marvel of engineering skill known as the Zig-zag, and passes 

 on by Bathurst and Dubbo to Bourke. The chief line in New South Wales is the 

 Great Southern Line, branching from the junction at Granville and traversing the south- 

 ern districts through Goulburn, Wagga Wagga, and the other principal towns on the 

 route to Albury, where a junction is effected with the Victorian Line to Melbourne. 





